Macmillan E-books - kindle Discussion Forum: "We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it's reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don't believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative."
Now John Gruber over at Daring Fireball says that Apple has successfully disrupted Amazon's Kindle business, but I think a little bit differently.
I think that Apple has successfully laid the groundwork to raise the standard price of eBooks. And I think that is going to seriously damage the eBook format. Would I pay $15 for the privilege of reading something I could pay $10 or less for by picking it up at the local book store I walk by every day on my way home? I sincerely doubt it, and I think it's absurd that publishers should want to charge more for something that costs less to produce.
Publishers need to start waking up and reading the writing on the walls the way the music industry has been forced to do. Things are changing. Paying a premium to read a book early might work. Waiting to release an eBook until softcovers come out might work. But charging more for an eBook than a softcover? Good luck with that.
